Heritage

As Christians we are the beneficiaries of a heritage that goes back to the beginning of time. However there is a more recent heritage that we are part of. Many younger Christians are not aware of  this and so live an impoverished life.

In my lifetime I have seen a great change in the expression of the Christian faith, much of it excellent bringing people closer to God through the Holy Spirit and a rediscovery of His gifts. There has been a negative side, however, in the  ignorance of church history and the heritage of past generations.

I am continually aware of how little younger Christians know about even the most crucial events of Christian history and practice. We are in danger of having a whole generation of believers who know very little about the great treasures of our heritage as citizens of the Kingdom of God.

We do not live in a time vacuum. Whether we realise it or not we live within a continuum of faith. The past contains the efforts of many people to find the truth of the gospel lived in their culture and time. Their mistakes are often magnified so that we miss the many valuable insights they gained in their time. So often these insights have to be learned anew if we are unaware of our history. Mistakes long rectified  have to be made again. The current major discussion about evangelism and church planting is a good example.

It is only recently that we are seeing that the early Celtic church in England provides a pattern for evangelism and church planting which is close to the NT pattern.

There are many other matters, closer to our daily experience, where our heritage is important, such as music, engagement with our culture, the place of social work in Christian ministry, etc.

We need to be reminded that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. The faith did not begin with us. We are part of a historic faith. God has revealed himself in history. The Bible is an historical book, among other genres. Jesus lived and died within an historical context. The Church has grown within history. History records the high points and the low points of our walk with Jesus.

History is crucially important. Edmund Bourke, among others, said that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. This is as true in the Kingdom of God as in civil life.